Anita Baker has sparked fresh anticipation for new music after sharing a cryptic “Forever” teaser more than two decades after her last studio album.
Anita Baker appears to be signaling that a long-awaited musical return is getting closer. The legendary R&B singer recently teased “Forever” with the message “Forever… is coming,” fueling speculation that a new release or larger project could finally be on the horizon.
Baker has not yet announced a release date, tracklist or formally confirmed whether Forever is the title of an album, single or another project. The brief teaser is still notable given how long fans have waited for a new full-length release from the eight-time Grammy winner.
Her most recent studio album, Christmas Fantasy, arrived in 2005, while 2004’s My Everything remains her last album of original material. The latter marked Baker’s return after a decade away from studio albums and reached the top five of the Billboard 200.
Baker has teased comeback material before. In 2012, she released a cover of Tyrese’s “Lately” while preparing a proposed album titled Only Forever, telling Billboard at the time about plans for the project, though the album was ultimately never released.
The latest tease therefore carries extra weight for longtime listeners, especially after Baker returned to live performance following a brief retirement announcement in 2017. In recent years she has continued performing while celebrating the catalog that made songs including “Sweet Love,” “Caught Up in the Rapture” and “Giving You the Best That I Got” enduring R&B standards.
For now, details surrounding Forever remain limited, and Baker has not provided a timetable for what comes next. Still, the message offers one of the clearest recent indications that new music may be in motion from a singer whose last original studio set arrived more than 20 years ago.
